1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sports and recreational area lighting, and more particularly, to an improved reflector assembly for television coverage level illumination of the Primary Play Area in an indoor arena, while controlling glare to the spectators seated around the PPA.
2. Description of Prior Art
In the past, arena lighting for sports and recreational events covered by television broadcast has been driven by the television requirements for intense and uniform light levels for the television cameras to capture the often quick moving action of the event.
Since the Primary Play Area (PPA) in most arenas is rectangular or oblong shaped for most events, such as basketball, ice hockey or rodeo, the need for adequate horizontal and vertical illuminance levels has led to the placement of large numbers of high intensity luminaires along catwalks suspended along arena ceilings parallel to and outside of the long sides of the PPA.
Uniform illumination of the PPA can be achieved by aiming the luminaires at various target locations in the PPA. Since light intensity varies inversely as the square of the distance between the light source and the point being illuminated, it is necessary to aim more luminaires at target locations on the opposite side of the PPA from the catwalk location. This placement has proven to provide adequate horizontal and vertical illumination of the PPA, but also has caused intense illumination of the spectator seating areas in the lower arena, particularly from luminaires aimed at target locations from the opposite catwalk. This spill light is seen as glare to the spectators seated in such areas, causing visual discomfort in viewing the event.
Additionally, a popular light source of choice among arena lighting designers is the position oriented high intensity discharge (HID) metal halide type lamp, which provides high lumens per watt efficacy and good color rendering. These types of lamps do not reach full light output immediately upon starting, but must warm up over a period of several minutes. Upon reaching operating temperatures, if the lamp is extinguished, it will not relight until it is cooled sufficiently to allow the arc to restrike with the available starting voltage. This time could be 15 minutes or longer.
However, event planners have requested the ability to darken the arena for special effects, such as spotlights and fireworks, at pre-selected times during events, such as player introductions and half-time shows, while being able to return the arena to full brightness immediately upon completion of the special effects portion of the event.
Thus, arena luminaire designers have developed systems for HID type luminaires to simulate instant on/off of the luminaire for special effects while the lamp continues to remain on within the luminaire. These shutter systems require that the components of the optical system of the luminaire be contained within the front opening of the luminaire, so that the shutter doors may close and block the light produced by the lamp.
Further, since the luminaires must be installed and maintained by workers on the small catwalks high above the arena floor, the size of the luminaires, and thus the size of the components within the luminaires, must be kept to a manageable size.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a narrow beam reflector assembly with sharp cutoff optics.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a reflector assembly that controls spill light to reduce glare to spectator seats in the lower arena.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a HID reflector assembly with spill light control that can also be used with a shutter system to simulate instant on/off of the luminaire.
It is even a further object of the present invention to provide a reflector assembly with spill light control that has a reflector and louver assembly which is positioned behind the plane of a front pan.
It is even a further object of the present invention to provide a reflector assembly with spill light control of compact size.
More particularly, the present invention provides an arena light reflecting assembly. The arena light reflecting assembly includes an asymmetric parabolic shaped reflector having an exit aperture. The reflector surrounds a horizontally extending high intensity light source and has a focal axis that lies along an axis of an arc tube of the light source so that the reflector acts as a collimator redirecting light from the light source into essentially parallel rays from the exit aperture. A pan circumscribes the exit aperture and a louver assembly is disposed within the exit aperture behind a front surface of the pan.
The elements outlined herein are given primarily for the purpose of better understanding of the present invention. Many additional inventive concepts will be understood herein and none of these objectives are to be considered as limiting without taking into consideration the entirety of the teachings of the figures and specification together with any appended claims.